Thursday, August 18, 2005

The Globe & Mail today provided the text of what it considered would have been a better acceptance speech by our new Governor-General. With suitable apologies, here's mine.

Hey, I'm not a lumberjack, or a fur trader.I'm a Radio-Canada journalist, and a film-maker.I don't live in an igloo or eat blubber, or own a dogsled.I have a limousine and a house on Sussex Avenue, and everything's cordon bleu.And I don't know Jimmy, Sally or Suzy from Canada,although I'm certain they're really really nice.

I have a Prime Minister, not a president.(Well, thanks to dual citizenship, I guess I have a president, too, come to think of it.)I speak English and French and Italian and Spanish and Haitian creole, not American.And I pronounce it 'about', not 'a boot'.

I would proudly sew my country's flag on my backpack,if I had a backpack. (Those days are over.)I believe in peace keeping, not policing,diversity, not assimilation,and that the beaver is a truly proud and noble animal.A toque is a hat, a chesterfield is a couch,and it is pronounced 'zed' not 'zee', 'zed' !!!!

Canada is the second largest landmass!The first nation of hockey!and the best part of North America.My Québec includes Canada!